Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TOM SIDWELL
VICTORIA
MARCH 1, 2010
TO: MS LEANNE EVANS
INVESTIGATION OFFICER
HEALTH CARE COMPLAINTS COMMISSION
Dear Ms Evans,
All articles mentioned in this document are listed with their PubMed ID (PMID). This
will make them easier to find, should any follow up be required. The PMID need only
be copied and pasted into the PubMed search box
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) to bring up the article’s details and often its
abstract. Those without a stated PMID are from journals not indexed in the
MEDLINE database.
Please note that the phrase ‘Wakefield paper’ refers to Dr Andrew Wakefield’s 1998
study – reference [1].
The following material covers information on pages 18-19 of the 27 page version of
the reply available at http://avn.org.au/library/images/pdfs/hccc_reply.pdf
It should be noted that Ms Dorey’s claim that “Dr Wakefield’s study was only the first
of many to indicate a very strong and, in some cases clinically verifiable connection
between vaccination and the development of ASDs [autism spectrum disorders]” is
incorrect; the Wakefield paper itself does not come to that conclusion. The discussion
of the Wakefield paper clearly states “We did not prove an association between
measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described” and suggests
further research into such an association. The hype surrounding the MMR vaccine
from Wakefield comes from a video released by the Royal Free hospital NHS trust, in
which Wakefield asserts no causal link, yet calls for immunisations against measles,
mumps and rubella to be separated [2].
It is also worth noting that despite the initial claim being that “Research also suggests
that there is a connection between MMR vaccination and the development of
autism,.…”, Ms Dorey’s response to Mr McLeod’s criticism of this statement is not to
provide any research that suggests a connection between MMR and the development
of autism. She instead chooses to list articles which she says hypothesise a vaccine
autism link. This kind of ‘side-stepping’ from a dis-proven argument (also known as
‘moving the goalposts’ – or even widening in this case) is dishonest, and reflects
negatively on the credibility of both Ms Dorey and the AVN.
Despite Ms Dorey’s claim that “Dr Wakefield’s study was only the first of many to
indicate a very strong and, in some cases clinically verifiable connection between
vaccination and the development of ASDs” she provides no evidence for her statement
of a clinically verifiable connection between vaccination and the development of
ASDs. There has not been a single clinically verified case of a vaccine (or vaccines)
being the cause of autism. For Ms Dorey to make such a grand statement without any
justification is completely dishonest and dangerous.
• The first referenced paper in Ms Dorey’s reply, ‘Key realities about autism,
vaccines, vaccine-injury compensation Thimerosal, and autism-related
research’ (no PMID) is partially an attempt to rebut an earlier article [13] that
appeared in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, explaining the lack of evidence for
assuming the vaccine ingredient thimerosal causes autism, and the scare
tactics used by the anti-vaccination movement. The entire article attempts to
convince the reader of this disproved hypothesis. The lack of evidence for the
hypothesis suits the ‘journal’ it is in: ‘Medical Veritas’.
The first paragraph of the abstract of this article sets the tone perfectly:
“The propaganda dispensed by Public health care and vaccine apologists is,
at best, a weak attempt to rationalize the healthcare establishment.’s positions
using all the tools of doublespeak or, as George Orwell.’s called it in his book
1984, .“newspeak.”, to: (a) mislead, (b) distort reality, (c) pretend to
communicate, (d) make the bad seem good, (e) avoid and/or shift
responsibility, (f) make the negative appear positive, (g) create a false verbal
map of the world, and (h) create dissonance between reality and what their
narrative said or did not say”.
• The fifth paper referenced, ‘Autism, viral infection and measles mumps rubella
vaccination’ (PMID: 10731332) is a review, headed by Andrew Wakefield (of
the Wakefield paper) in which he puts forward no new evidence, but suggests
that “MMR vaccination is a candidate worthy of investigation” regarding the
cause of autism. Of the ten articles Ms Dorey references, this is the only one
from a mainstream, peer-reviewed journal to hypothesise a vaccine-autism
link – and it is done so by Dr Andrew Wakefield, who has been shown to have
had significant conflicts of interest, including: a patent on a monovalent
alternative to the MMR vaccine [23] and being paid to find a link between
MMR and autism by a lawyer representing parents making a court case
blaming their children’s autism on the vaccine [24]. Interestingly, those
conflicts of interest are undisclosed in this article.
• The sixth paper, ‘Measles virus and autism’ (PMID: 11085720) is a letter
published in the Lancet, sent in by Wakefield and colleagues, replying to
criticisms of the research methodologies used in two of their previous studies.
This defence of their previous studies is just that, and does not mention any
hypothesis linking vaccines to autism.
To follow up, as without doing so the previous paper and accompanying explanation
are likely to be misconstrued by those who initially misconstrued the paper, a later
study [25] found no such correlation in autistic children.
It should be noted that the AVN’s reply stated these papers were “a selection of the
many articles published in peer-reviewed journals.… hypothesising that there could
be a connection between vaccination and the development of ASDs”. Of the ten
papers cited, only three hypothesise this. Two of them are in journals which are not
mainstream, nor peer-reviewed, and are known for publishing absurd, fringe
conspiracy theories. The third was a review article, with Wakefield as one of the
authors.
It is telling that of the ten articles Ms Dorey selected, the only three that support her
assertion are either published in fringe conspiracy journals, and the other is written by
Dr A. Wakefield, who has well-documented conflicts of interest.
The ten articles were referenced by Ms Dorey in an attempt to prove that more
research, other than the Wakefield paper, suggest a connection between the MMR
vaccine and ASDs:
“In section 7.1.3.2, Mr McLeod cites the AVN..s statement that, “Research also
suggests that there is a connection between MMR vaccination and the development of
autism,…” He then goes on to say that, “the AVN is referring to the Wakefield study
published in the Lancet.””
As has been shown in this analysis, the AVN’s initial statement “Research also
suggests that there is a connection between MMR vaccination and the development of
autism,.…” remains demonstrably untrue, with research suggesting a lack of
association [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12]. Ms Dorey’s apparent attempt to distract
from this, by instead listing articles which she stated were published in peer reviewed
journals and hypothesise “a connection between vaccination and the development of
ASDs” simply drew attention to her own lack of evidence for this claim. The selection
of articles Ms Dorey included suggests she is at best ignorant of the lack of evidence
for her claims and those of her organisation, or at worst intentionally deceptive.
Signed,
Tom Sidwell
References:
[1]: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive
developmental disorder in children; Wakefield AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A, Linnell J,
Casson DM, Malik M, Berelowitz M, Dhillon AP, Thomson MA, Harvey P,
Valentine A, Davies SE, Walker-Smith JA. Lancet. 1998 Feb 28;351(9103):637-41.
PMID: 9500320 (Now retracted)
[3]: Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence
for a causal association; Taylor B, Miller E, Farrington CP, Petropoulos MC, Favot-
Mayaud I, Li J, Waight PA. Lancet. 1999 Jun 12;353(9169):2026-9. PMID: 10376617
[4]: Time trends in autism and in MMR immunization coverage in California; Dales
L, Hammer SJ, Smith NJ. JAMA. 2001 Mar 7;285(9):1183-5. PMID: 11231748
[5]: Mumps, measles, and rubella vaccine and the incidence of autism recorded by
general practitioners: a time trend analysis; Kaye JA, del Mar Melero-Montes M, Jick
H. BMJ. 2001 Feb 24;322(7284):460-3. PMID: 11222420
[6]: Is there a 'regressive phenotype' of Autism Spectrum Disorder associated with the
measles-mumps-rubella vaccine? A CPEA Study; Richler J, Luyster R, Risi S, Hsu
WL, Dawson G, Bernier R, Dunn M, Hepburn S, Hyman SL, McMahon WM,
Goudie-Nice J, Minshew N, Rogers S, Sigman M, Spence MA, Goldberg WA, Tager-
Flusberg H, Volkmar FR, Lord C. J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Apr;36(3):299-316.
PMID: 16729252
[8]: Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders; Baird
G, Pickles A, Simonoff E, Charman T, Sullivan P, Chandler S, Loucas T, Meldrum D,
Afzal M, Thomas B, Jin L, Brown D. Arch Dis Child. 2008 Oct;93(10):832-7. PMID:
18252754
[9]: Measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and bowel problems or developmental
regression in children with autism: population study; Taylor B, Miller E, Lingam R,
Andrews N, Simmons A, Stowe J. BMJ. 2002 Feb 16;324(7334):393-6. PMID:
11850369
[10]: No evidence for links between autism, MMR and measles virus; Chen W,
Landau S, Sham P, Fombonne E. Psychol Med. 2004 Apr;34(3):543-53. PMID:
15259839
[15]: Shaken baby syndrome or medical malpractice?; Ali, A.M. Medical Veritas,
2004 Apr; 1(1):117-29
[17]: Analysis of causes that led to subdural bleeding and rib fractures in the case of
Baby Patrick Gorman; Ali, A.M. Medical Veritas, 2006 Nov; 3(2):1019-40
[18]: Hypothesis--Examining the causes of AIDS; Ali, A.M. Medical Veritas, 2006
Apr; 3(1):901-13
[20]: Induced Abortion and Risk of Later Premature Births; Brent, R, Calhoun, BC.
JPANDS 2003: 8 (2): 46–9
[25]: Are there enhanced MBP autoantibodies in autism?; Libbey JE, Coon HH,
Kirkman NJ, Sweeten TL, Miller JN, Stevenson EK, Lainhart JE, McMahon WM,
Fujinami RS. J Autism Dev Disord. 2008 Feb;38(2):324-32. PMID: 17588145